Sikora continued: “We’ve got to have these social distancing arrangements, including over the weekend.

“As we come off the plateau of the number of patients, then we see a decrease in hospitalisation, there’s a little hint that’s already happened, the number of hospital admissions are already falling now, and then we will see the death rate fall, probably not for a week or two.

“The government, I think, has to talk about options for the dates. They must have options for when we can be released because people will go mad if we carry on like this.

“I think it’s good to talk about it, we can all argue about it, but we have to come to some hopeful conclusion.”

Former Government advisor Professor Karol Sikora spoke of the importance of maintaining social distancing over the Easter weekend. (Sky News)

Speaking of how the UK should lift restrictions, Sikora said: “We need to get through this weekend, see a fall in the death rate, the fall in the use of the NHS. That should happen by about the third or fourth week in April. And then we can start a gradient opening of the lockdown.